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Few days back I wrote a post on “SEO Tips For Beginners” here on Serradinho and it got a huge response. Many people asked me to provide more SEO tips to increase the traffic of their website.
Usually bloggers suffer a lot due to poor SEO skills. I have been through the same disastrous situation for almost 9 months.
Few months back I started reading SEO articles online and started applying new tricks on my own blog. Some of the SEO tactic didn’t yield anything while some of them worked pretty well for me. I still feel that I wasted lots of time in writing the good article which nobody is reading.
Many people say content is king or write the article for readers not search engines. I have only one question for them, where did your readers come from?
Good content is always helpful, but if you are not targeting proper keywords then your good content will be placed in a dark corner of Internet world where nobody goes.
Killer SEO Tip From My Own Experience: SEO Tactics To Drive More Traffic To Your Blog
Instead of providing more tips to you like my previous article on SEO tips for beginners, I would like to add only one SEO tip which can boost your traffic like anything.
Title tag: Thesis is a SEO optimized theme which allows you to define a custom title tag for each post. If you do not have thesis theme then you can also use All-in-one-SEO plugin to define you own custom title tag per post.
Usually we copy the same title tag which we write as a title in wordpress (I assume that you are using WordPress platform). Ideally the custom title tag which input in “Title” field of all-in-one-seo plugin is “One Killer SEO Tip:But The Question Is, Is It Ethical?” or some variation of it. Ideally the title tag should be of 60 characters.
What if I use “One Killer SEO Tip:But The Question Is, Is It Ethical?, seo tips, seo tactics, drive traffic blog, beginners seo tips, seo expert, seo plugin” as a title in all-in-one-seo plugin. I can use more keywords in title tag. The title tag also exceeds 60 characters which many search engine including Google don’t consider.
My observation
I have seen many big blogger (so called pro blogger) using the similar SEO tactics to drive more traffic to their blog. For many of them this technique worked perfectly. I am also shocked to see that Google is still not penalizing them, instead they are on the first page of the Google for some keyword. I do not like to disclose their names here.
Now the big question is, Is it ethical? To be frank, I am not in the position to say whether this is ethical or not. I have more proof with me to show you that many bloggers are using this technique to drive more traffic to their blog. Why is this technique is working for them?
They are already exceeding 60 characters limit of title tag, but it is still working for them. I have personally tried it on my 2-3 posts and it worked like a charm for me.
Back to the readers
I would like to know your opinion regarding this technique. Do you consider it as a keyword stuffing? I also would like to ask whether you will try this technique for your blog or not.
Ricky is a part time blogger who loves to write about blogging tips, SEO, social networking and technology. Ricky is also a web designer and SEO adviser. You can visit Geniusgeeks to see my other posts.
View all posts by Ricky Shah, there might be other posts that interest you.
{ 30 comments }
Actually, I don’t care if it’s ethical or not – it looks spammy and I don’t think Google is going to keep on allowing it. Sooner or later they will do “something” that (hopefully) will punish sites that “abuse” the title tag.
I won’t be doing it anytime soon
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Adobe Preparing a Lawsuit Against Apple? Screw You, Adobe! =-.
@Klaus
I can provide more proof to show that this pro blogger using this same technique for more than 1 year. Still there is no word or penalty from Google.
If you are not comfortable with something then you shouldn’t do it. My only concern is that it is proving all the old theories wrong. Title tag is used to drive traffic. We can use keywords only instead of Title.Lol.
.-= Ricky´s last blog ..iPhone OS 4.0 Jailbreak Using Blackra1n By Geohot: Software To Be Released Soon =-.
Hey Ricky
Please provide some stats, do let us know which pro-blogger is doing this?
.-= Harsh Agrawal´s last blog ..HTML5 Test for Mobile Browsers =-.
You can use altered version of title tag different from the that of the main title tag if you have All in one SEO.
But stuffing keywords in the title is a clear No-no !
.-= NPXP´s last blog ..Weekly Roundup – 20th April 2010 =-.
@Harsh
.
I wouldn’t mention his name here but one thing I can tell you is that you know this guy very well. He is one of the famous Indian tech blogger
.-= Genius geeks´s last blog ..How To Unlock iPhone 3G On OS 4.0 Beta Using Ultrasnow =-.
I had tried this method beofre and it does work.
.-= paul | entertainment tonight´s last blog ..Empress Schuck leading role for Rosalka =-.
There are two things to consider:
What we know:
1. search engines only show the first 70 characters on their result pages, so if done right it won’t look spammy to anyone in the SERPs. After that, how many people actually look at the page title in the browser bar?
What we don’t know:
2. how much weight – if any – is given by search engines to the words that are after the 70 characters limit. How much weight is given to keyword repetition?
If it works for them, and hopefully they tested it, I think it’s only fair to give them credit for and recognise that they tried something most bloggers wouldn’t do and got more visitors from it.
.-= Tom@NetAccountant´s last blog ..Some fun – SEO style – with Google Youtube Search Stories =-.
@Tom – thanks for your feedback, I’m sure many here appreciate it as much as I do.
BTW, I hope to see you commenting more here and sharing your opinion
You most certainly will
@Tom
Ricky here. I would have to agree with your second point, even I doubt about the weight of more keywords after 70 characters. This is a real time example which proves our theory wrong.
I can show you that many of his post is on the Google’s first page and yet there is no penalty from Google.
If this method is working then what is wrong in trying them. To be frank I am bit skeptic about trying out this method.
.-= George Serradinho´s last blog ..One Killer SEO Tip:But The Question Is, Is It Ethical? =-.
I also think that Google will no longer or maybe it’s doing it at this time, penalize excesive use of the Title tag. The same was with PR ranking, when WWW was talking about how good it is to have bigger PR, Google anounced that it is killing PR.
.-= izdelava spletnih strani´s last blog ..Brezplačna izdelava spletne strani – Cenik izdelave spletnih strani =-.
1st, just so I’m clear – we’re taking the title, whatever it is, and basically stuffing like-minded KW’s after it, yes?
Now, first of all, the title tag should be more optimized then the actual title anyway and not just a duplicate, isn’t this right?
First thing I would do, if I were to do it is shorten the title; maybe something like, “One Killer SEO Tip: Is It Ethical?”, if not changed even more. Then if I were to stuff a couple KW’s in there it certainly wouldn’t be so many; perhaps half?
Is it ethical? I’ve read many articles on the ethics surrounding marketing and written a few myself. The one thing that seems abundantly clear is the word means many different things to many different people.
“personal preference” may sound like a cop-out answer, but there it is sometimes. Somethings are RIGHT, somethings are WRONG, and unfortunately somethings are Gray.
For me, the first rule is, “does it hurt humans” aka real visitors. Is it such a bad thing as long as the keywords actually match the article? (The stuffing that always pissed me off, as well as the SE’s, was off-base yet popular words meant to draw you in then hope for the best.)
I’m likely to say no, but if it pisses off the search engines to the point they delete you, then it hurts everyone.
Conclusion – yep for better or worse I’d have to say “judgment call” unless you KNOW what the engines are gonna do, which of course, no one really does.
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..WANTED: HootSuite vs. TweetDeck Comparison Guest Post! =-.
Btw, I certainly wouldn’t base ANYTHING on what the “pro bloggers” or top sites seem to get away with. I think it’s already been fairly well proven some DO get preferential treatment.
Just one example: How many still sell links for massive dollars and yet have never been penalized?
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..YES it is Time for ME to TWEET! What’s my username? Part 1 =-.
@Dennis Edell
This blogger is using the same technique for more than a year. He has never got penalized from Google yet.
Honestly how many of us see the nav bar in the browser? Stuffing the keywords in the title tag is yet unknown method to many bloggers. All I want to say is this kind of technique exists and many people are using it.
The question is will you implement it for the sake of traffic?If you ask me the same question then my answer may be emphatic yes. But I want to apply it without being penalized. Lol. I am being selfish here.
“This blogger is using the same technique for more than a year. He has never got penalized from Google yet.”
You said originally he was a pro blogger, yes? Did you see why I wouldn’t base anything on that? “We” might get penalized, while “they” do not.
Other then that, it seems we agree.
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..UPDATED: YES it is Time for ME to TWEET! What’s my username? Part 1 =-.
In my opinion, having multiple keywords in your title is ethical. It’s only when you start putting 3-4-5 keyword phrases in the title does it start making you look bad and take away from the site. Nobody likes long titles anyway, it stretches across the whole top bar and just looks spammy. I always include two main keyword phrases in my titles. I frequently get away with threww keyword phrases according to my rule if my domain name has the keyword in it already.
Example:
Twitter Backgrounds Central | Free Twitter Backgrounds & Twitter Wallpapers!
Where, “Twitter Backgrounds Central” is the site domain name and the rest are my main two keyword phrases.
.-= Josiah@Free iPad´s last blog ..JailBreak the Apple iPad =-.
@Josiah
I guess you are misunderstanding. We are talking about title tag. The title tag is not shown in the post. It is shown in your browser’s top navigation.
Usually readers don’t notice it. Although it does look spammy it is one of the best way to include some extra keywords.
.-= Genius geeks´s last blog ..Jailbreak iPhone 3G OS 4.0 With Redsnow 0.9.5 On Mac OS X =-.
As far as I know, google is now not paying attention on meta tags, due to such type of spam. Google more prefer the optimization within the content. Again if some blogger using such type of keyword stuff, they will fall soon from the search rank.
Even there are also some blog that not using meta tags, but on top ten on some high competitive keywords. So you can not say that by stuffing keywords on meta tag they get top rank on google.
.-= chandan@work at home´s last blog ..Few quality link can help you for get rank on search engine =-.
This will be only ethical if you don’t repeat the words. remaining you know.
Having that kind of title simply looks too spammy so I would not consider to do a thing like that even if it gives me an ethical or unethical SEO advantage.
.-= Netchunks´s last blog ..10 Viable Alternatives to PayPal =-.
I think the only way I could believe this is to try it myself. George has tried it and he says it works. I think I can gather the necessary guts to see its effects first hand.
.-= James Moralde´s last blog ..Wired FM Modulator =-.
Nice point Ricky and it is a great topic to start a discussion on… Giving my opinion it is unethical but not wrong. The guy who ever is doing it is using a part of the system and his meta title tags add values instead of spam… And since you mentioned it’s been one year he is using the same trick, I believe it’s good time for any search engine to put a penalty on that site, but this thing didn’t happened ..So I will rather call it a Smart work ….
.-= Harsh Agrawal´s last blog ..5 Best In-Text Advertising Program for Bloggers =-.
“unethical but not wrong”
What exactly does that mean?
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..The Official DEDC Comment Policy =-.
Dennis
As a blogger we have some codes of conduct, though nothing is written in a book which is mandatory to follow, Now the guy is taregting lots of keywords in a single meta title that is something unethical because you can target only one point at a time in a post. Not wrong, because this is something he is playing with the rules made by Google, he is stuffing keywords which are relevant and Google is still ranking him on the first page from last one year..so that’s why I find it playing with rules and not wrong….
@Ricky May we know few blogs which are doing this??
.-= Harsh Agrawal´s last blog ..How I Made 12795.97 Dollars in a Day via Google Adsense =-.
@Harsh
All I can do is provide some more screenshots. But you should try out this strategy as it is working for many people (worked well for me, I add few selected keywords only).
.-= Genius geeks´s last blog ..How To Unlock iPhone 3G On OS 4.0 Beta Using Ultrasnow =-.
Not wrong through Googles eyes, OK I can see that.
Although, I thought ALL KW stuffing was a big ‘ol no-no…there has to be something else going on.
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Do You Have 5 BURNING Questions? =-.
Looks like yet another starter with a killer SEO tip. The comments seem more interesting than the post itself. Chandan makes the best point amongst all -
“Even there are also some blog that not using meta tags, but on top ten on some high competitive keywords. So you can not say that by stuffing keywords on meta tag they get top rank on google.”
You should have simply stuffed keywords in title for this particular post and seen for yourself what Google thinks about your post.
.-= Michael Gray´s last blog ..Review of WeBuildPages Link Building Services =-.
@Michael
Chandan has made a goo point but we are talking about title tag. Title tag has more SEO importance. Yes the comments on this posts are more interesting and I am happy to see so many comments here.
I have tried the same trick by myself and it has helped me a lot. I hope you are aware that I am guest blogger here and not an administrator. I have few limitations.
Nobody can rank well using the same technique within a few days. If I am competing for “SEO” keyword then using the above technique I won’t be ranked on first page of google within a week or months. It takes time. But this method surely works for medium and low quality or competitive keywords.
.-= Genius geeks´s last blog ..How To Unlock iPhone 3G On OS 4.0 Beta Using Ultrasnow =-.
if u are getting traffic and love from google, its ethical
As u mentioned that blogger is using this trick from last 1 year
Thanks for this post
me will try to implement this trik on mine blog from now, just on some posts from now as i fear from being penalized from ggl
ATUL
.-= TechOfWeb´s last blog ..Googlemail.com changing to gmail.com in UK =-.
You are right, I have seen people stuffing keywords in the title a lot. Strange but true, Google is showing them on first page. Another common practice is using a particular keyword twice/thrice in the title tag. for eg., “Keyword 2010 keyword 2011 Best keyword”.
So far, the Big Gorilla is loving them but in the longer run, only those will stand who do it right. My opinion!
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